[Snowball] Relaxing, enjoying, and the snowballs...

[Jeramy Ross]

Good evening/morning all,

I fully agree with all of the sentiments regarding enjoying the
snowball and not stressing about getting it back to rolling by a
certain time.

I'd like to make a couple of points here:

1)  I apologized about delaying ol' number two because I ended up
having to sit on the snowball for a couple of weeks.  Did I feel
pressured to get it out by a certain time?  Yes.  Was it self-induced?
 Yes and no.  I know that the sad fate of the last snowball still has
several folks on edge, and that was the main reason I felt pressured.
I do not want to loose those folks from the group or diminish the
enjoyment of this great group due to a possible knee-jerk reaction of
their assumption that the ball is going to suffer the same fate as the
last one due to a delay.  I think and truly hope that those nerves,
fears, etc. will be put to bed once the first successful rotation of
the snowballs occurs.  Until that happens, I get the impression that
we will have at least a couple of folks on edge... and that leads me
to point number two..

2)  The targeted turnaround time was arrived at, in part, to help put
to rest some of those fears of the snowball melting at someone's QTH
(or someone's local garbage dump) and leaving some folks in a lurch.
Can it be relaxed?  I think so.  Should it be?  I would vote yes.

Everyone has life's little exciting moments that takes our attention
away from the things we like to do and enjoy (to include the
snowball).  I have a job that is on the demanding side.  I have a wife
and two kids.  I also have a wonderful little disease that gets in the
way from time to time.  The meds (some of which are good, old
boatanchor chemo drugs from the 1950's) get in the way from time to
time as well.  Having the flexibility to enjoy the snowball more and
not feel like I'm in a rush to get it packed back up and out the door
again to the next QTH would be wonderful and add to the enjoyment of
the snowball on my end provided the extra time spent at one QTH
doesn't take away the enjoyment of someone else on the list.  I would
love to see a good balance struck here.  I'm not sure what that
balance is or if that balance can be found before the two balls make
it through the lists completely and all fears of this round sharing
the same fate as the last are evaporated.

Is everyone ok with simply taking your time with the snowball and
simply sending out email updates (i.e. when you get the snowball, when
you plan to ship the snowball, and when you actually do ship the
snowball)?   I think that would be the most relaxed way of doing this.


As for everyone who has sent me get well wishes, and inquiries as to
what was going on with my health and the like:  Thank you!!  I'm doing
well, and for those of you who saw the chemo word and instantly
thought of the "C" word... no, I do not have cancer.   So no worries
there.  I simply have a immune system that is a little overambitious
and we're well on our way to getting things into remission and making
those nifty little cell thingies behave :)  So no worries!

As for snowball number two... I think I stuffed some neat things in
there that will surely be enjoyed and put to good use by someone on
down the list.  Enjoy!

So there's my thoughts... for what their worth.

I hope everyone's weekend is going great!

73,
Jeramy W5XTL